My new responsibilities wouldn't be considered "more important" or "more difficult" than the work I was doing in the classroom, as I remember very well what the life of a teacher consists of.

My new responsibilities are different. Not better. Not worse. Just different.

Every day is a new day, full of surprises and challenges.

My work calendar has been filled up with meetings, webinars, and out-of-town conferences for the last few months.

I knew this year would be an adjustment period, but to be honest...it's been pretty overwhelming.

We've had some situations come up in my department that are uncharted territory for our district. We've had students transfer in and students transfer out. I've been working with and learning from several outside agencies.

I've been reading several books about leadership and project management and not putting unrealistic expectations on yourself.

Through my reading (and YouTube & blog exploration), I've come up with three goals for myself to really focus on from now until the end of this school year.

Be intentional.

There are a million things biding for my time every single day.

I have some choices about what I allow to take my energy every time something new comes across my desk, across my phone or email inbox, or in front of my door.

I have choices about when to say "yes" and when to say "no"...and I can assure you that when it comes to my family, the answer should always be "yes".

I need to be intentional with my time, with my commitments, and with Mr. Farmhouse and the girls.

Some days, this might look like closing my office door and pushing through the items that haven't gotten enough attention that week.

Some days, it might look like closing whatever I'm working on at school and heading home right after school.

Some days, it might look like laundry, dishes, and sweeping the kitchen floor.

Being intentional is so important.

Simplify.

I have always been a "just in case" person.

I'd better keep that piece of paper "just in case" we ever need it again (even though I could print if off the internet any time I want).

I'd better save those toys and clothes in a tub in the basement "just in case" (even though I trashed boxes that hadn't been cracked open in over eleven years when we moved last summer).

I've realized through the years, however, that I have hardly ever needed those "just in case" items!

Thanks to the KonMari method, I pared down quite a few of our belongings right before we moved to the farmhouse.

I tried to be very intentional in my decorating and purchases made when we moved in.

I've tried to transfer a lot of my "paper clutter" from paper to digital copies.

My complicated systems are now simple and intentional daily reminders...a checklist that I move through during my free time at home and school.

Less is more.

A simple and manageable system is so much more effective than an over-complicated and unattainable plan.

One Day at a Time.

​At the end of the day, we can't be all things to all people.

We WILL NOT mark every single item off of the "to do" list and even if we did, there would be more tasks tomorrow.

We have to be intentional with how we spend our time each and every day.

I wake up in the morning and do my Bible study, have some prayer time, and then I crack open my calendar app.

I look at my list of the things that must get done that day on my Trello board and I schedule them into my little pockets of open time on my Google Calendar that used to be wasted.

As I work through the day, I mark items off my list as I complete them and I move the tasks down through the day if something comes up that is a higher priority item.

If I don't finish the tasks for the day, I have learned to forgive myself and move them to the following day.

We can only do what we can do.

We can do our very best...give our best effort...try to strive for perfection...and still we will fall short.

We will never be "caught up"...but do you know what we can be?

We can be present.

We can wake up every morning renewed and full of purpose, ready to try again.

We can be intentional and we can strive for the beauty of simplicity...one day at a time.

I started reading the 12-Week Year after watching a YouTube video by Kayse Morris (a young retired teacher who now makes her living creating teacher resources and sharing information with friends on her blog & YouTube channel).

In this particular video, she was talking about her professional goals and how she makes significant progress towards those goals each and every day.

It seemed like she was describing a book on intentionality.

And that seemed like a book for me.

I immediately downloaded it and started listening to it that night.

Wow.

The concepts in the book were so obvious and yet, I needed to hear them so badly.

How many of us wake up on January 1st every single year with so many hopes and dreams for the year?

We make goals (New Years' Resolutions, if you will), whether on paper or in our heads.

There are so many things we want to accomplish by December 31st, and yet by the time February hits, adequate progress towards most of our goals has not been made.

We don't have to work too hard in January and February because December is still SO...FAR...AWAY.

We push through March and April, making excuses as to why we are not moving towards our goals.

It's so cold.

When it warms up, I will get to work on those goals. I promise!

When the school year ends, I'll have so much more time to focus on my plans.

There's still PLENTY of time to meet my goals before the end of the year! We're not even halfway through the year!

May, June, and July come and go.

The summer is just so busy. When school starts, I'll be able to focus more.

It's too hot!

Summer is for rest and relaxation.

By the time we hit August and September, we are ready to get the kids back into the routine of school and get to work on those "New Years' resolutions"!

But it's just crazy when everyone is trying to get back into the grind of school.

On October 1st, it hits us...we only have three more months to reach our goals.

We start to get a glimpse of the urgency that is needed if we're going to hit our goals before January 1st, but by this point...it feels like it's too late.

I knew I couldn't continue this cycle forever.

I'll be starting a new job on August 1st and life will be different at the farmhouse at that time if we don't start to mark some things off of our giant to-do list.

The basic premise of the 12-week year is that we get rid of our "annualized" thinking when it comes to goal-setting and working towards making our vision for our life a reality.

We start to think of each 12-week section of time as a year.

Instead of putting off tasks until the end of the year when the urgency starts to take over, we keep that sense of urgency year-round, while setting realistic goals and focusing on the execution of daily tasks to help us reach our desired result.

The first day I was listening, I paused it to write these thoughts down.

"If you want to know what your future holds, look at your current daily actions. Those are the best predictor of your future. Not your hopes and dreams and visions. Your daily action. Because daily action is what moves a person forward."

We can have the most well thought-out vision and the most wonderful plan in the world.

However, if we don't execute well...none of that matters.

So remember as you think about your vision, your goals, and your plan that we need to also think about the effectiveness of our execution.

We have to DO the hard work every stinking day. Even when we don't feel like it.

Just do it.

We are in Week 2 of our first 12-week year and we are LOVING the results we are seeing.

I'm going to take you through the process of how Mr. Farmhouse and I ​set up our first 12 weeks.

This is, in no way, a substitution for you reading the actual book and following the plan.

​But I'm hoping it can at least inspire you to get started!

1. Write out your personal vision for your life 10 or 15 years down the road.

Be specific! Close your eyes and picture the life you've always dreamed about! There's no goal too lofty. Just write it all down!

2. Based on that vision, think about what parts of that vision you could work towards for the next three years.

We are zooming in at this point.

We're taking that lifelong vision and breaking it into more measurable and attainable chunks. ​

We went through our vision and wrote some attainable goals.

I'm not going to share every single part of our personal family vision because your vision should be your own.

However, on our long-term vision, we wrote that we want to be completely debt-free in ten years.

So for our three-year plan, we want to work towards having everything paid off except for the farmhouse and my student loans.

3. Based on your three-year goals, set goals for the next 12 weeks.

We are zooming in even farther at this point.

What can we do to move ourselves closer to meeting that long-term vision and that three-year goal in the next three months?

At this point, we broke down our 12-week plan into fourteen very specific, small, and attainable goals.

We have everything on there from finishing up the fourth bedroom wall upstairs to making healthier choices and losing 15 pounds.

It includes paying at least an extra $300 down on the debt snowball and getting the property completely fenced for the pigs and cows.

It includes blogging goals, a plan to get my classroom completely cleaned out before I move into an office next year, and a plan for our first garden here at the farmhouse.

On this step, be specific.
Be detailed.
And be realistic.

4. Create a weekly plan including activity that needs to be completed every week to help you reach your goals.

We did this on the Sunday evening before we started into our first week.

These are very specific tasks that will move you toward your 12-week goals.

Here's an example of this from our 12-week year.

We want to finish the wall and closet for the fourth bedroom.

During week 1, we needed to measure the closet and wall space and make a materials list. We needed to order the supplies from Sutherland's. These are the only two tasks for that goal that we could realistically finish in Week 1.

But we finished those two tasks and moved farther along in the process than we have in the last six weeks.

We aren't putting that task it off any longer because now it seems manageable.
It seems attainable.

We can do this!

5. Every single week, check your progress from the previous week and plan the next week.

This part is crucial to the success of the 12-week year.

What daily action did you carry out regarding each goal?
How much progress did you make towards your goals?
Were you diligent in doing the hard work every single day?

If not...OWN IT and vow to do better this week!

After checking your progress, make a new weekly plan!

In the book, Moran talks about three different blocks of time we need to religiously schedule each week.

Strategic Blocks - 3 hours of protected time early in the week where you knock out a lot of your weekly activity work (1 time per week)Buffer Blocks - 30 minutes to one hour blocks of time where you do those mundane yet necessary daily tasks like checking emails and social media (1-2 times per day)Breakout Blocks - 3 hours of time later in the week where you BREAKOUT of the work cycle and focus on pouring back into yourself (1 time per week)

I tried this schedule this week and could not believe how much more I was able to accomplish during that first strategic block when I wasn't distracted by emails, my phone, or other daily (sometimes meaningless) tasks that I spend so much time on each week.

Week 13.

Week 13 in the 12-week year is for reflection and celebration!

Because you're not thinking about the annual goals that are looming over you, you are able to be more focused on a few attainable goals and the tasks that will get you to the end result you desire.

I would encourage you to grab the book or at the very least, try to plan your own 12-week year soon.